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I stared at the display on the answeringabout the features on this model Carefully I pressed the asterisk button to the left of 0 On my machine, theredials the last number called With a flurry of notes up and down the scale, the uely fa Three times Four

Someone picked up There was a whir and a pause as a machine on the far end of the line came to life

"Hello This is Olive Kohler at 555-3282 Sorry we’re not here to take your call I’m out at the supermarket at the moment, but I should be home at four-thirty or so If you’ll leave your nuet back to you as soon as I return If you’re calling with confirmations for the New Year’s Party, just leave your na ’Bye for now"

I could feel e since Olive’s death, and there she was again, per-petually hung up in New Year’s Eve day, leaving a verbal note before she went off to shop for the party that would never take place

Perversely, I pressed the asterisk again Four rings, and Olive picked up, her voice sounding hollow, but full of life She was still going out to shop for the New Year’s party, still requesting the caller’s nae " ’Bye for now," she said I knew if I called a hundred ti "’Bye for noithout ever knowing how final that fareould be

Andy ’s last phone call had been to her, but what did it h roceries, the package bo open, the telephone had rung and that’s why she’d tossed the package in such haste Maybe Andy knew the package aiting on the doorstep and had called to warn theot inen route to wolf down a fast-food lunch The Kohlers" house was the next logical stop, but as I turned into the lane, I noticed a whisper of anxiety I had not, of course, been to the house since the boain I parked in front and gingerly stepped through the gap in the hedge where the gate had been Only the posts remained now, the hardware twisted where the force of the boes In places the blast had left the shrub-bery completely bald

I approached the house Plywood sheets and two-by-fours had been nailed across the yawning opening where the front door had been One of the colu the porch roof had been snapped in two and a clued up in its place The as scorched, grass sparse and blackened Sawhorses and warning signs cautioned folks to use the rear I could still detect the faint briny smell of the cocktail onions that had littered the yard like pearls

I felt aze drawn irresistibly to the spot where Olive had lain in a tumbled, bloody heap I ree for her since her ars Her casual refusal had saved me Death sometimes passes us by that ith a wink, a nod, and an impish promise to return for us at another tiuilt I did that she’d died in our stead

I was holding my breath, and I shookthen toward the rear of the house I knocked at the back door, cupping lass to see if Terry or the housekeeper was hoain In the lower right-hand corner of the kitchenthere was an alarm-company decal that said "Armed Response" across the bottom I stepped back so I could scan the area There was a red light showing on the alar that the systelar would knoas safe to start work I took a business card fro Terry to call ain and drove to the Woods’ For all I knew, he was still there

Early-afternoon sunlight poured down on the house with its dazzling white facade The grass was newly cut, as short and densely green as wool-pile carpeting Beyond the bluffs, the ocean was an intense navy blue, the surface feathered hitecaps that suggested a strong wind co at my back, and the palms tossed restlessly where the two met Ash’s little red sports car was parked in the circular driveway, along with a BMW There was no sign of Terry’s Mercedes I walked around the house to the long, low brick porch on the seaward side and rang the bell